which choke do you guys like best for 20 to 40 yard. shots using Kent 3" 11/8 oz #3 in a sx2 28"
I'd go IC or Mod.
IC or after market Lt mod
For what its worth ,I've been using a Pure Gold tempest IC extended and I am quite happy with it- I've used 1 1/8 fed #4 and have no problem dropping them at 25-3O yards , 35 is a long shot for me with the ducks but I have finished of a escaping cripple swimming off at 40 ish yards plenty of times
This year I purchased a case of Fed #3 1550 fps loads, ill test pattern it for you guys with a few loads and the factory ic choke for you guys to compare
Before I write my reply, I'd like to be up front and say that I am a member of the Hevi-Shot Pro-Staff. I only want to say that so that it doesn't look like I'm pushing a hidden agenda. I respect all mfgr's products, and believe that they all make quality product, for the most part. Pure Gold, Carlson's, Wad Wizard, etc. All make good tubes worth checking out.
I personally use the Hevi-Shot Extreme Range (ER) tubes in all of my waterfowl guns. I never know how far my shots are going to be, so I lean on the choice that is made to give me the most range. I plan to either hit them Hard at the farther ranges, or hit them Extremely hard up close. The tubes have three wad stripping rings inside of them, much like the Indian Creek tubes do. I have had a lot of success with this tube at a host of yardages, with a lot of different loads.
(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb63/jhodge83/002-23-1.jpg)
(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb63/jhodge83/005-25.jpg)
I have had great success with a factory MOD tube at the ranges specified as well. The Kent #3's are a solid choice in my opinion. Good luck this season, and with your choice :icon_thumright:
Quote from: Old Gobbler on October 07, 2012, 02:17:34 PM
For what its worth ,I've been using a Pure Gold tempest IC extended and I am quite happy with it- I've used 1 1/8 fed #4 and have no problem dropping them at 25-3O yards , 35 is a long shot for me with the ducks but I have finished of a escaping cripple swimming off at 40 ish yards plenty of times
This year I purchased a case of Fed #3 1550 fps loads, ill test pattern it for you guys with a few loads and the factory ic choke for you guys to compare
Shannon, I got hold of some 2 3/4 federal 1 1/4 number 6s this teal season. Bad news. Great shells.
For a 12 guage and not sky busting birds, then a simple stock modified choke has always worked for me. But like anything else, try an IC or others at the range and see how they work. If I am shooting ducks, and I only shoot drakes close to the decoys, than it is simple Xpert 3" 3s with my Browning BPS 28" mod choke. For geese I use #2s but am still playing around with loads for them. Tried some Black Cloud for the first time last weekend and it did the job pretty well on a honker flying away from me.
I think a LM will do you the best. I have some patterns I will dig them up. I know with the Black Clouds the LM is just ugly.
I've had good luck with Wad Wizard choke tubes got both the swat and supreme for my sbe.
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I use the HeviShot turkey with great results so I bought a HeviShot mid-range tube for my waterfowl hunting. Whether I am using HeviShot or Hevi-Metal, they pattern really well out of my gun. I have compared at different distances against the factory tube and the HeviShot mid-range excels.
If I am just targeting geese patternmaster. Most of my hunting is duck hunting though and my factory IC throws nasty patterns out of my gun with 3" 3s in both Fiocchi and Federal blue box shells. My brother has the same gun I do and runs his patternmaster all the time.
I use a carlsons extended mod in my nova and its devastating.
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Trophy Tracker, THANK YOU. A very candid and honest response. I really like the Hevi Shot tubes myself. I know they work and work well as I have run them myself. E.M. and Carlson's really hit a home run with them imo. I have talked to quite a few E.M. staffers and so far you and Shaun P. are about the most knowledgeable and respectable. Now...if you could just get those idiots wingseeker and reblecj7 to just STOP POSTING... ever again it would truly make my day and I'm sure many...MANY other people's days as well. Wingseeker whoever he is, has gotten so bad I have begun just deleting his posts on any forum I moderate on.
Say, is that 5 o'clock charlie again ?
(http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh220/OldGobbler1/mash2_zpsb629fed3.gif)
(http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh220/OldGobbler1/mash1_zpsa44b614a.jpg)
I shoot an extended mod. Carlsons waterfowl choke and it is absolutely lights out from my nova with a 28" barrel.
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:z-winnersmiley:
Quote from: birdyhunter on February 19, 2013, 10:11:55 PM
I shoot an extended mod. Carlsons waterfowl choke and it is absolutely lights out from my nova with a 28" barrel.
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I have a nova with a 24" barrel. D you think buying a longer barrel will improve my distance or just buy a good choke for extended range?
Quote from: Balla1982 on March 10, 2013, 09:25:08 PM
:z-winnersmiley:Quote from: birdyhunter on February 19, 2013, 10:11:55 PM
I shoot an extended mod. Carlsons waterfowl choke and it is absolutely lights out from my nova with a 28" barrel.
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I have a nova with a 24" barrel. D you think buying a longer barrel will improve my distance or just buy a good choke for extended range?
Yep it sure will i have a 28in barrel on my gun and a non ported extended carlsons lt mod choke .i hunt 70 plus days a year for waterfowl . i mostly have it for when kids are shooting duck and i am the clean up guy for the cripples .
That 24"bbl will kill ducks all day long out to 40 yards(which is about as far as anyone can cleanly kill a duck regularly) with some time spent on the patterning board. I'd be willing to bet money that you can find a shell or two that will throw a good pattern with your factory MOD or IC.
I shot the factory IC choke in my Nova, 870, and Browning Gold for several years. Once I really started patterning loads on paper, I compared the factory tubes with a couple of different models of extended IC and Mod. chokes. I was suprised how in almost every case the extended tubes gave a much more even pattern. My go to was my Gold with a Primos extended IC for ducks and an Imp. Mod. for geese.
Don't waterfowl hunt near as much as I used to, having a family now and all, but my 4 buddies and I used to shoot around 700 ducks and geese a year here in MI. It was crazy how much of a difference it made when I started reloading my own high speed steel. SPEED KILLS!!!
Been thinking of trying a briley light mod this year.I usually use a trulock black cloud full for most of my hunting,patterns good even with standard steel loads.I actually usually shoot kent faststeel 3" 4s most of the time through it.Heard alot of good things about the light mod,i think it would be good for the woodys early in the year.For them i usually use the stock imp.cyl. or mod choke.The imp.cyl. is a little open and the mod is a little tight for this so a light mod should fall between both and give me what im looking for.Might also try a sumtoy waterfowl choke in light mod too.The stock crio chokes patterns real well,i just like extended chokes for steel for the fact that there is a better chance of getting it out if it should swell.
I like the Hevishot MidRange waterfowl choke
factory modified
Got a Fowl Play Lm and a Air Traffic Control Lm choke from William at Sumtoy and I am very impressed so far with them.They actually patterned a little tighter than I thought they would for a light mod but the patterns were very even out to about 45yds(didn't try patterning any farther that day)Absolutely hammered the mallards and geese a couple weeks ago using kent 3-11/8-4s and the FP lite mod out of my benelli vinci.My Son is shooting the Air Traffic Control out of his beretta a300 with BC 1-1 1/4-4s.....ward
I shot the same shell out of my Maxus, I just saved a lil money and shot the factory mod. It threw a nice evenly spread pattern in the 30" circle on the patterning board. My brother shot same shell and gun thru a Kicks Full and it was a little bit tighter of a pattern. The numbers were close on both, the kicks pattern had a denser core.
The best thing you can do is try every choke you can afford, test them out, and see what fits your hunting style best. I found the factory mod to be a killer from close up swamp work to some 40ish yard shots on divers at the coast.
Factory mod chokes are usually a pretty good choice. I have used stock i.c and mod chokes with good success in the past.I have gravitated to extended chokes in the benelli for a couple of reasons. The main reason is my stock chokes seemed like they would loosen up on me in very cold weather.It would only happen in very cold weather after a flurry of shooting,then sitting then a flurry of shooting again.It may be just my particular gun,but I think what was happening was the rapid heating and cooling cycles with the thin wall barrel was causing it to loosen up.Had not encountered that happening with my brownings or remingtons.So I went to using xtended chokes so its easy to check occasionally to make sure it stays tight. To the O.p., I would try the barrel you have and see how you do. I hunted waterfowl with a bps upland with a 22" barrel for several years and did ok with it.Was murder on decoying birds and in the flooded timber.But on big water, longer range crossing shots were tough with it for sure.
I've found it also depends on the terrain I'm hunting, field of view, weather conditions etc.
Often if view is constricted like timber or bottomlands modified, more open view or windy I may go with full.
Small farm ponds where they are right on me, imp cyl.
Carlson waterfowl chokes all the way.
For short range (20 yds) I think any IC factory tube is fine. My Benelli IC tube starts to get mediocre patterns at 35 yds. I do not shoot long passing shots but occasionally take that longer 3rd shot so a better pattern at 40ish yards is important to me.
I tried a Trulock IC extended tube and have no complaints. It is deadly at close shots and much better than factory at 40 yds.
Steel is fickle stuff compared to lead, and it patterns far tighter. Larger pellets often pattern tighter than smaller (which is opposite for lead), and sometimes tightening a choke actually degrades the pattern. And different manufactured ammo will shoot differently out of the same gun.
That being said... I believe the LM (light modified) choke is one of the best all around chokes... A bit tight at 20-25 yards, but a great choke for 30-35 yards, and adequate to 45 yards...
A modified choke at 20 yard birds turns them to hamburger, but is obviously a better choice if most of your shots are further. An I.C. is great to 30 or 35 yards, but to me is a bit thin past that... (This is from my experience shooting Briley extended chokes in an M-2 and AnglePort extended chokes in a Beretta Urika-2).
Most shots at 20 yards are easier shots, and I can deal with a choke that is a bit too tight if they really do come in. 25-35 yards is more typical for me, but that LM gives me just a bit more density for that second or third shot.
I shoot a SX2 with a Kicks High Flyer MOD and for me it works well in every situation I hunt. I shoot Winchester Xpert 3" #3's a ducks .
I think that I am going to use the HeviShot Extended Range tube in my new Super Vinci
Hevishot chokes..........there is no substitute
Quote from: TrophyTracker on October 13, 2012, 09:20:28 PM
Before I write my reply, I'd like to be up front and say that I am a member of the Hevi-Shot Pro-Staff. I only want to say that so that it doesn't look like I'm pushing a hidden agenda. I respect all mfgr's products, and believe that they all make quality product, for the most part. Pure Gold, Carlson's, Wad Wizard, etc. All make good tubes worth checking out.
I personally use the Hevi-Shot Extreme Range (ER) tubes in all of my waterfowl guns. I never know how far my shots are going to be, so I lean on the choice that is made to give me the most range. I plan to either hit them Hard at the farther ranges, or hit them Extremely hard up close. The tubes have three wad stripping rings inside of them, much like the Indian Creek tubes do. I have had a lot of success with this tube at a host of yardages, with a lot of different loads.
(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb63/jhodge83/002-23-1.jpg)
(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb63/jhodge83/005-25.jpg)
I have had great success with a factory MOD tube at the ranges specified as well. The Kent #3's are a solid choice in my opinion. Good luck this season, and with your choice :icon_thumright:
I used a Mid Range HS Choke this past weekend and HAMMERED the mallards in Arkansas....NO CRIPPLES